Shirley Lee Gardner Magnuson (1935 – 2012)

October 3, 2012

Shirley Lee Gardner Magnuson, 77, of New Bern, N.C., widow of the late Rev. Roy G. Magnuson and beloved mother and grandmother, departed this life and went to be with the Lord on Sept. 27, 2012.

Born April 18, 1935, in Waterloo, Iowa, she grew up attending the Ross Conservatory of Music and Dramatics. and graduated from West High School in 1953, where she was known by her friends as "Flea." She attended Iowa State Teachers College and went on to graduate from Northwestern Bible Col-lege, Minneapolis, Minn., in 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts in music.

She married the Rev. Roy G. Magnuson in 1957 in Orchard Gardens, Minn., and with her husband, served Evangelical Free churches in North Miami, Beach, Fla., Rochester, Minn., and Brooklyn, N.Y., People's Church in South Bend, Ind., First Baptist Church in Westfield, N.Y., and last at Maranatha Bap-tist Church in Mayville, N.Y., until the death of her dear husband in February of 2001. Since that time she has lived in New Bern, N.C., where she has spent the past 10 years teaching music at Calvary Baptist Christian School.

Article Photos

Mrs. Shirley Magnuson spent her life ministering in music. She has directed choirs and stringbands, written and directed can-tatas, taught piano and strings, written music to over 200 verses in the Psalms and published a music book "In His Pres-ence in Song" with Janice Perry. Through her music ministry she dedicated her life to serving God.

Summing up a lifetime of love from a mother in one page is impossible, but all of her children will live on with her as part of them so she is never really gone. Her children know in their hearts that she is finally with their dad, and the Roy and Shirley love story cer-tainly is one that is simply beautiful and eternally en-during.